Aerobic exercise is a popular form of exercise that improves one's cardiovascular health by reducing blood pressure and providing other benefits to the human body. Aerobic exercise generally involves low intensity physical exertion over a long duration of time. Typically, the human body can adequately supply enough oxygen to meet the body's demands at the intensity levels involved with aerobic exercise. Popular forms of aerobic exercise include running, jogging, swimming, and cycling among others activities. In contrast, anaerobic exercise often involves high intensity exercises over a short duration of time. Popular forms of anaerobic exercise include strength training and short distance running.
Many choose to perform aerobic exercises indoors, such as in a gym or their home. Often, a user will use an aerobic exercise machine to have an aerobic workout indoors. One such type of aerobic exercise machine is a treadmill, which is a machine that has a running deck attached to a support frame. The running deck can support the weight of a person using the machine. The running deck incorporates a conveyor belt that is driven by a motor. A user can run or walk in place on the conveyor belt by running or walking at the conveyor belt's speed. The speed and other operations of the treadmill are generally controlled through a control console that is also attached to the support frame and within a convenient reach of the user. The control console can include a display, buttons for increasing or decreasing a speed of the conveyor belt, controls for adjusting a tilt angle of the running deck, or other controls. Other popular exercise machines that allow a user to perform aerobic exercises indoors include ellipticals, rowing machines, stepper machines, and stationary bikes to name a few.
One type of treadmill is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0205568 issued to Ping-hui Huang. In this reference, an improved treadmill is provided that includes a base frame, a platform and an endless belt. The treadmill in accordance with the invention is characterized in that the platform includes a cushioning pad with a thickness ranging from 1 to 10 mm and is stuck to a top surface thereof, and that a smooth wear-resisting layer is attached to a top surface of the cushioning pad in such a manner that the wear-resisting layer and the cushioning pad are fitted to form a whole and the wear-resisting layer is interposed between the endless belt and the cushioning pad for providing more comfort and reducing the exercise injuries to a minimal extent.